UBS has been ordered to cap bonuses for foreign-exchange and precious-metals bankers as Switzerland’s regulator probes 11 of the bank’s current and former employees as part of its inquiry into currency rigging. The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, or Finma, is investigating the spot-trading desk based near Zurich, where the investment bank is located. The unit employed about 14 people in the period under probe, and Finma is questioning individuals including senior managers of foreign-exchange and precious-metals trading, it said...Finma capped variable compensation for UBS’s foreign-exchange and precious metals employees to 200 percent of basic salaries for two years and UBS will be obliged to automate at least 95 percent of its foreign-exchange trading...It also said UBS will introduce a review and approval process for other employees at the investment bank in Switzerland whose bonuses are larger than twice their basic salaries.

Numbers for first and second year analysts (who are not happy). "It's been two weeks since UBS numbers came out and nobody wants to talk about it, for obvious reasons. Second years (base: 80k) ranging 45-65k and heard of some first years getting around 40k (base: 70k). And they could only achieve these numbers ("in line with the street") after firing 30+ analysts right before communication day."

The Swiss bank will reportedly announce today that it's going to be doing things a little differently around here re: compensation. One, deferrals will start at $250,000 and two, rather than being paid in UBS stock, the non-cash portion of 6,500 senior employees' bonuses will come in the form of subordinated debt that can and will be wiped out in the event the amount of capital on hand falls below the level required by EU regulators, putting the onus on everyone to make sure no one pulls an Adoboli and avoids multi-billion dollar fuck-ups in general.